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Fields Cook (ca. 1817–1897)

Fields Cook was a Baptist minister and Republican Party leader who wrote a long account of his early
years in slavery. Born in King William County to
enslaved parents, Cook learned the rudiments of Christianity and how to read from his
master's son. By hiring himself
out and saving money,
he purchased his freedom by 1850 and prospered in Richmond with his wife and children, whose freedom he also
purchased. After the American Civil
War (1861–1865), he ministered in Chesterfield County and began working on behalf
of the rights of freedpeople. He organized for the Republican Party between 1867 and
1869, but his view of the party was inclusive and made room even for former Whigs and Confederates. In 1869, he
ran for United States Congress but received less than 1 percent of the vote. Cook
spent his later years in Alexandria, where he worked as a bank agent and pastor, first of the Third
Baptist Church and then of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. During the 1880s he supported
the short-lived Readjuster
Party and its promise of a biracial coalition led by former Confederate
general William Mahone. Cook
died in Alexandria in 1897. MORE...

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Early Years

Cook was born into slavery in King William County. The names of his parents and
the name of the family who owned him are not known, nor is it clear when or under
what circumstances he acquired or took his surname. He was described several times
as being of mixed-race
ancestry. On January 23, 1847, Fields, as he then identified himself,
began writing a narrative of his
life, one of the longest manuscripts known to have been composed by an
enslaved Virginian. The first thirty-two pages of the memoir survive and in 1902
were deposited in the Library of Congress. He recorded that he spent his youth in
the Virginia countryside, where his relationship with his master's family was
close and complex. His dearest boyhood companion, the son of his master, delivered
the most cutting blow of his young life when he abruptly began treating Fields as
a slave. Years later the two reconciled and the white boy gave him two priceless
gifts, an introduction to Christianity and literacy. Fields's criticism of slavery
in his memoir was subtle, unlike his condemnation of Nat Turner for provoking a wave of terror against
unoffending slaves in his region.

After a failed romance, Fields requested and
received permission about 1834 to live and work in Richmond, where he presumably
participated in the illegal but common system of self-hiring. He found work,
arranged his own room and board, and kept any money he earned in excess of the
fees he paid to his owner. Six feet tall, literate, personable, and industrious,
Cook prospered in Richmond. Within a few years of arriving in the city he married
Mary, an enslaved domestic
servant; was baptized and joined the First Baptist Church; and became the
father of at least two sons and one daughter. It is possible that Cook wrote his
life story about the time he gained his freedom, which he had secured by 1850. In
that year he was working as a leech doctor, and by 1860 he had managed to free his
wife and to purchase and free at least two of his children. In 1852 he bought the
first of several city lots and houses in Richmond. The house and lot where he
lived on North Ninth Street in 1865 were then valued at $1,700. His brother Jim
Cook was a well-known Richmond cook and caterer in the years immediately after the
Civil War. Inasmuch as Fields Cook was listed in the 1860 census as a waiter and
identified five years later as manager of the bar and restaurant in the Ballard
House Hotel, it is likely that they were engaged in business together.

Church and Politics

After the Civil War, Cook became a Baptist minister and for several months was
pastor at a church in the Chesterfield County coalfields under the auspices of the
American Baptist Home Mission Society. Through his position he engaged as one of
the most important African American leaders in Richmond. Late in May 1865 federal
military authorities imposed pass and curfew restrictions on freedpeople and
expelled hundreds from Richmond. At the same time, they reinstated the wartime
municipal police force, which, together with provost guards, handled African
Americans roughly. Cook and several other church leaders collected evidence of
military and civilian misbehavior and called a mass meeting in June. That
gathering approved a memorial detailing their grievances, informing the larger
public that they alone had been steadfast in their loyalty to the Union, and
arguing that the policies of the city's ruling authority harkened back to a
discredited past rather than heralding a new era of liberty. Cook chaired the
delegation chosen at that mass meeting to present their case to the governor and on June 16,
1865, to the president of the United States.

Cook represented the city in the first state convention of African Americans,
which met in Alexandria in August 1865. The convention named him a vice president
and asked him to write its address to the public. Cook argued powerfully that
African Americans deserved full and legal equality and must have the vote for
their own protection. He also wrote that Virginia's prosperity depended on harmony
between the races and required a productive working relationship based on the
equality of rights, duties, and protections. Cook's thoroughly radical vision was
wildly at variance with the pledge of protection based on obedience and
subservience that the state's white leaders offered. It was a vision that only the
Radical wing of the Republican Party then embraced, but it also squared with
Cook's own experience as a self-made, self-emancipated man who knew that he was
anyone's equal in God's sight. As he had prospered after becoming free, so too
should large numbers of his race, provided they were given opportunity, choice,
and protection.

In January 1869 Cook attended the National
Convention of the Colored Men of America in Washington, D.C., and was elected to
the national executive committee. Late that same year he took part in the
convention of the Colored National Labor Union. Cook saw no contradiction between
religious leadership and political activism. Indeed, he believed that sound
religious teachings, good schooling, and principled politics were all necessary
for the elevation of his race and the transformation of society.

From 1867 to 1869 Cook worked tirelessly for the Republican Party. An effective
organizer frequently sent into the countryside to rally rural freedmen, he engaged
in important battles over strategy that put him at odds with many influential
Republicans. His dream of full political freedom for blacks made him seem a
natural ally of the Radical Republicans, but his inclusive view of the party often
brought him into conflict with the Radical leaders. Cook favored an alliance with
former Whig Unionists if they
were willing to join the great mass of freedmen in the Republican Party and work
to modernize the state. He argued that the party should disavow land confiscation
and even make room in the leadership for Whigs who had supported the Confederacy.
During the summer of 1867, party rank and file instead heeded the strident voice
of James Wesley
Hunnicutt, the radical editor of the Richmond New
Nation. After the election for the constitutional convention in October of
that year demonstrated that most white Virginians opposed the Republican Party,
Cook could not resist criticizing Hunnicutt and his followers for alienating
potential influential allies. Although finding fault with some Republican leaders
and policies, Cook continued to serve on the party's ward and executive
committees, and he was secretary of the congressional district convention in May
1868. He supported the regular state Republican ticket in the watershed election
of 1869, but in an unsuccessful campaign as an independent candidate for a seat in
Congress that year he received less than 1 percent of the vote.

Later Years

In 1870 Cook and his wife moved to
Alexandria, where for a time he was an agent for the local Freedman's Savings and
Trust Company bank. He lived in that city for the rest of his life and in 1872
sold his Richmond house. Cook was a pastor of the Third Baptist Church until early
in 1883, when he left following several disputes within the congregation. He later
became pastor of the city's Ebenezer Baptist Church, in which post he served until
his death. As prominent in Alexandria as he had been in Richmond, Cook also
remained active politically. During the 1880s he supported the Readjusters and
criticized African American voters who rejected that party's offer of a biracial
coalition against the Democrats, who were regaining domination of the state government.

Cook did not live to see his native state take the final steps in stripping African
American men of the franchise that he had fought for and claimed as a right and necessity
for three decades. Cook died at his Alexandria home on January 21, 1897, and was
buried in the city's Bethel Cemetery.

Major Work

Untitled Slave Narrative (1847)

Time Line

ca. 1817
- Fields Cook is born into slavery in King William County.

ca. 1834
- Fields Cook, an enslaved African American living in King William County, receives permission from his owner to live and work in Richmond, where he likely hires himself out.

1850
- By this year, Fields Cook gains his freedom from slavery.

1860
- By this year, the former slave Fields Cook purchases and frees his wife and at least two of his children. The census lists him as a waiter.

1865
- Fields Cook manages the bar and restaurant in Richmond's Ballard House Hotel. The house and lot where he lives on North Ninth Street is valued at $1,700.

May 1865
- Late in the month, federal military authorities impose pass and curfew restrictions on freedpeople and expel hundreds from Richmond.

June 1865
- At a mass meeting, Fields Cook and several other church leaders in Richmond collect evidence of military and civilian mistreatment of freedpeople.

June 16, 1865
- Fields Cook chairs a delegation of Richmond freedpeople that presents its case against white mistreatment of African Americans to the U.S. president.

August 1865
- Fields Cook represents Richmond in the first state convention of African Americans, which meets in Alexandria. He is named a vice president and asked to write the convention's address to the public.

1867–1869
- Fields Cook works as an activist for the Republican Party in Virginia, serving as secretary of a congressional district convention. He supports an inclusive party that even includes former Whigs and Confederates.

1869
- Fields Cook runs for Congress as an independent candidate and receives less than 1 percent of the vote.

January 1869
- Fields Cook attends the National Convention of the Colored Men of America in Washington, D.C., and is elected to the national executive committee.

December 6, 1869
- The convention of the Colored National Labor Union convenes in Washington, D.C. Fields Cook serves as one of the 214 delegates.

1870
- Fields Cook and his wife move to Alexandria, where he works for a time as an agent for the local Freedman's Savings and Trust Company bank.

1872
- Fields Cook sells his house in Richmond.

1883
- Fields Cook leaves his position as pastor of the Third Baptist Church in Alexandria following several disputes within the congregation. He later serves as pastor of the city's Ebenezer Baptist Church.

January 21, 1897
- Fields Cook dies at his Alexandria home and is probably buried in the city's Douglass Memorial Cemetery, of which he was a founder.

1902
- The first thirty-two pages of Fields Cook's narrative of his life as a slave are deposited at the Library of Congress.